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Wake Forest’s Bzdelik thinking of team’s present, not his future

Wake Forest’s Bzdelik thinking of team’s present, not his future

ENOUGH TO STAY? — Wake Forest coach Jeff Bzdelik is thinking about his team, not his future.

By Joel EdwardsSpecial to The Courier-Tribune

GREENSBORO — Coming to the end of his fourth season at the helm of the Wake Forest basketball program, Demon Deacons coach Jeff Bzdelik faces intense scrutiny and external pressure to win, especially considering the success of the other North Carolina-based members of the Atlantic Coast Conference.

Despite beating each of the other “Big 4” in Winston-Salem this year, Bzdelik’s record of 17-51 in ACC play and a 50-75 overall mark, including 1-3 in the ACC Tournament after Wednesday’s win, had done little to quell the rumblings. Even with Wake’s victory over Notre Dame, Bzdelik — like most coaches — chose to focus on his team’s present and not his own future.

“Well, again, it’s not about me. It’s about the Wake Forest basketball program,” Bzdelik said after Wednesday’s win. “I have two responsibilities: I have a responsibility to win; I get that.

And I have a responsibility to protect the integrity of the University, and I get that, and there can’t be a trade off between one or the other. We have terrific young men on this basketball team, and, well, we’re making steps in the right direction in terms of winning. But, you know what? It’s not about the future for next year, it’s about the future now.”

A win over Pittsburgh today would go a long way to making Bzdelik a part of that future, too.

Rebound drill

During pregame prior to Wednesday’s ACC Tournament opener, the Wake Forest Demon Deacons went through a defensive rebounding drill for the first time this season. Assistant coach Rusty LaRue, as well as other team personnel, would throw the basketball off the rim or backboard and watch the Deacon players battle underneath.

It apparently paid off as the Deacons outrebounded the Fighting Irish 33-23 in securing their first ACC Tournament win sine 2007.

“It’s been our Achilles heel all year long,” Bzdelik said of rebounding. “We would get stops, but we would never culminate those stops with defensive rebounds. Actually, in pre-game warm-ups, we did a rebounding drill. I told my staff to do it. Should have been doing it all year long.”

Miami’s magic number is seven?

In an earlier loss to Virginia Tech this season, Miami shot 7 of 34 from behind the 3-point line. In Wednesday’s first-round win, the Hurricanes once again hit seven 3-pointers, this time taking 25 shots to get there.

“At the offensive end, I think we attacked their zone much better,” Larranaga said after Miam’s 57-53 victory. “We didn’t settle — I can’t see without my glasses. How many threes did we take? 25? We still made seven. We’re good at getting to seven. So, we need to shoot fifteen so we’re 7-for-15 and not 7-for-25.”

Larranaga then looked down the podium and asked the players joining him, Erik Swoop and Ryon Brown, “Did you hear me?”

Brown, who was 2-for-10 from behind the arc Wednesday took the good-natured ribbing in stride and drew a round of laughter by responding with a sheepish, “My bad, coach.”

Larranaga not taking the bait

When the ACC coaches’ version of the All-ACC team was announced, Duke’s Jabari Parker was a unanimous selection, with conference scoring leader T.J. Warren of N.C. State left off of one coach’s first-team ballot. When asked if he was the one who left Warren off his first-team squad, Larranega didn’t hesitate.

“No, he was definitely one of my five all-conference players. Are you trying to narrow it down? You have 14 other guys to ask,” Larranaga said.

The reporter who asked the initial question followed up by pointing out it would simply make for an interesting storyline if it had been him.

Larranaga made it clear, again, he wasn’t the guilty party.

“Yeah, well, be sure to write I had him on first team,” the Miami coach said. “I don’t want to give them any ammunition and bulletin board material. T.J. Warren deserves all the recognition.”

Miami and N.C. State split two meetings this year, with each team winning on the road. Warren scored 27 points in a 56-55 Wolfpack win. He had 20 points in an 85-70 win for Miami.

E

arly success for Gottfried

Entering his third ACC Tournament as head coach at N.C. State, Mark Gottfried has had a great deal off success. Since leaving the ESPN studios to take over the Wolfpack, Gottfried is 4-2 in tourney play, reaching the semifinals as the #5 seed in each of his first two seasons at the helm.

In 2012, NCSU topped Boston College and Virginia before falling to top-seed North Carolina, 69-67, at Phillips Arena in Atlanta. Last year in Greensboro, the Wolfpack beat Virginia Tech in the first round before once again defeating Virginia in the quarterfinals. For the second consecutive year, however, State would lose in the semifinals to the tournament’s top seed, this time the Miami Hurricanes.

If the Wolfpack hope to make another run to the weekend, they will have to start by avenging last year’s loss and topping Miami this evening. The teams split their two meetings this season, with ACC Player of the Year T.J. Warren leading N.C. State by averaging 23.5 points and 7.0 rebounds in the two regular season games.

Forty years since the “greatest game in ACC history”

In 1974, the only way to get to the NCAA Tournament was to win your conference. Entering the ACC Tournament, the conference boasted three of the top six teams in the country: #6 North Carolina, #4 Maryland, and #1 N.C. State.

In the semifinals, both N.C. State and Maryland rolled to 20-point wins. N.C. State topped Virginia, 87-66, after leading by only two points at the half. The Terrapins rolled to a 105-85 win over UNC to set up a winner-take-all final.

Maryland led at the half, 55-50, after shooting over 63 percent in the first half. The Wolfpack would eventually pull even and, with the score tied at 97-all, the Terps had a chance to win at the end of regulation, but missed, sending the game to overtime. The game stayed close in overtime, but a pair of Monte Towe free throws with 6 seconds left boosted N.C. State to the tournament win and a berth in the NCAAs. David Thompson had 29 points and Tom Burleson scored a career-high 38 points, hitting 18 of his 25 shots.

The Wolfpack would go on to win the national championship, with the Final Four also being held in Greensboro that year.

The talent on the court for that game was impressive for the time, with five first-round NBA draft choices on the court. Thompson was the first pick in 1975, and Maryland’s John Lucas was first overall in 1976.

But perhaps one of the most important results of that game was the NCAA relaxing entrance to the tournament in 1975 after Maryland was left out of the 1974 tournament and voted not to play in the NIT.